Hey!
So I started my fitness journey about a year and a half ago.. Had about a stone of excess fat everywhere. I joined a gym and started eating right and within 6 months i was very satisfied with my results. I had lost the majority of the weight from my mid section, which i was very happy about. I did this with a combination of strength training, hiit and cardio, along with doing poledancing for the past 5 years. I then decided i wanted to bulk and gain some muscle on my legs and bum, so I ate in a calorie surplus for 6 months gained some muscle and fat all over but still looked very proportionate.
Then covid hit.
Along comes coronovirus and the gym closes. I thought, what do i do now? I knew i needed to lose some weight, so I decided to start cycling to work 3-4 times a week. I also bought some free weights, a barbell which was about 40kg and carried on with weightraining with the small amount of equipment I had. I also started running and doing hiit workouts at home. Here's the problem. I think i was doing way too much excercise.. My periods stopped for 4 months... I did not think this was due to the excercise as i was eating a lot of food, and i had only lost about 7lbs.
The problem is, I lost it from everywhere but my belly. I also felt bloated a lot of the time.
Then the gym reopened.
I was super excited to get back to the gym and start weightlifting again. I ditched the cycling to work and low and behold, my period returned. I have lost a lot of fat from my legs, which i have never been able to achieve in my life, but i have a lower belly pooch that doesnt want to budge!
My dilemma is, I dont really know how to go about with losing the lower belly fat. If i eat in a surplus will i just gain more belly fat? I actually prefered the way my legs looked when they werent super slim. I feel like now I am just going to the gym without any purpose.. I am doing a mixture of strength and cardio/hiit but not really knowing what is going to happen with my body. I dont know how many calories to consume and i have never tracked macros. It was easier to lose weight the first time because i had a goal of weight loss and i did lose weight.. Now I feel abit stuck as i don't want to lose weight, just tone up. I should also mention that i have very strong defined abs, so I dont think i need to build the muscle. It's more about losing the fat.
Has anybody else been in a similar situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thankyou :)
Jasmine
